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First created in 2051, the military-grade combat armor was designed to protect key sections of the human body from ballistic trauma with hard armored plates made from complex polymers and ceramics, with a flexible body suit interwoven with thermal-dissipative membranes and bulletproof material. The earliest models of the combat armor were manufactured as specific plates mounted on combat webbing, although as the technology improved, body-enclosing suits of armor were created and entered active combat duty, though in limited quantities. The armor came with a matte-finish olive drab coloring by default, making it suitable for woodland and/or urban camouflage.

Prior to the Great War, combat armor was nearly exclusively the property of military forces and special police units. Currently-available historical documentation shows users only in the North American continent, but allied nations were likely to posses identical or similar systems. Combat armor was the de facto armor of the United States military, issued to all combat soldiers not in the powered armor units. Additionally, at least one Canadian partisan was caught on camera wearing a suit of combat armor.

Civilian ownership of combat armor was highly restricted. A special permit was required from the Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, Firearms and Lasers for private ownership of the combat armor (though it was marketed to US citizens without mentioning this fact).

A suit of standard US Army combat armor, consisting of olive drab armor plates affixed to a light brown uniform. A single golden chevron is painted on each pauldron, denoting the owner as a private.

The US Army combat armor offers a higher damage threshold than normal combat armor or reinforced combat armor, with only slightly less than combat armor, reinforced mark 2. It also gives a bonus to the Guns and Survival skills, which are listed on the effects screen of your Pip-Boy as "Superior Training".

In addition to the pouches added to the armor, the shoulder plates are also shaped differently in comparison to other combat armors.